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b-hebrew - [b-hebrew] karu or ka'ari (Ps 22:16) ?

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  • From: "Walter R. Mattfeld" <mattfeld12 AT charter.net>
  • To: "b-hebrew List" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] karu or ka'ari (Ps 22:16) ?
  • Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2005 18:13:28 -0400

I have a question of scholars on this list versed in Hebrew, is the following information correct or incorrect, or "in dispute" as to meaning regarding the word karu or ka'ari ?

Cf. the below quoted statement:

"On Psalm 22:16 "they pierced my hands and my feet" (King James Version), Christians here found a famous example of an explicit prefiguration of Jesus's sufferings. In the Gospel story, the Romans pierce his hands and feet with nails in preparation for his being hung upon the cross. Nitzachon Vetus answered that the word given in the Latin translation as "they pierced" is written in the Hebrew original not as karu ("they pierced"), but as ka'ari ("like a lion"). The entire verse is properly translated, "For dogs have surrounded me; a pack of evildoers has enclosed me, like a lion [at] my hands and my feet." In biblical poetry, such as in the book of Psalms, the second half of a verse typically echoes the first. With this in mind, we should expect the imagery of being torn by wild beasts to be consistent from phrase to phrase -and it is. A modern update of the King James Bible, the Revised Standard Version, now includes a footnote acknowledging the more authentic translation of the verse." (p. 168. David Klinghoffer. Why The Jews Rejected Jesus. New York. Doubleday. 2005. ISBN 0-385-51021-7)

Regards, Walter
Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld y de la Torre, M.A. Ed.
mattfeld12 AT charter.net
www.bibleorigins.net





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